Deadly Swine Flu Outbreak

[piercehawkeye45]

Interesting and informative article.

A preliminary analysis of the H1N1 swine flu virus isolated from human cases in California and Texas reveals that six of the eight viral gene segments arose from North American swine flu strains circulating since 1998, when a new strain was first identified on a factory farm in North Carolina.

This genetic fingerprint, first released by Columbia University’s Center for Computation Biology and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton,[1] has now been reportedly confirmed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and virologist Ruben Donis, chief of the molecular virology and vaccines branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Robert Webster, the director of the U.S. Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization, and considered the "godfather of flu research,"[2] is reported as saying "The triple reassortant in pigs [first discovered in the U.S. in 1998] seems to be the precursor."

http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournew...98_042909.html

So much for blaming Mexico.

Before you know it, plane tickets will be back up and I'll have missed out.

[Shawnee123]

I'm thoroughly disappointed in this flu. It is the worst pandemic EVAH. Where's the weeks off school (work) and the empty grocery aisles, and the clear interstates, and the thinning of the humans?

Hmmmph, I could have done better job with some typhoid.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

I'm thoroughly disappointed in this flu.

1918 flu epidemic did the same thing. Then came back with revenge some months later.

Nobody was saying a pandemic was eminent. But precautions due to public warnings and precautions in some locations may have averted widespread infections.

Curious is how this H1N1 virus is so harmful to kids but not harmful to adults. Adults may have protection due to previous flu strains well before 2000 or (some speculated) due to previous flu vaccinations.

[TheMercenary]

67 Air Force cadets stricken with swine flu

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingne...391?source=rss

And:

New flu resembles feared 1918 virus: study

http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...rpc=22&sp=true

New flu "unstoppable", WHO says, calls for vaccine

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews

[TheMercenary]

From Flu unstoppable above:

Seasonal influenza is deadly enough -- each year it is involved in 250,000 to 500,000 deaths globally. But most are the elderly or those with some kind of chronic disease that makes them more vulnerable to flu, such as asthma.

ELDERLY ADVANTAGE

The elderly seem to have some extra immunity to this new H1N1, which is a mixture of two swine viruses, one of which also contains genetic material from birds and humans. It is a very distant cousin of the H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million to 100 million people.

A study published in the journal Nature on Monday confirmed that the blood of people born before 1920 carries antibodies to the 1918 strain, suggesting their immune systems remember a childhood infection.

The work by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka also supports other studies that this new H1N1 strain does not stay in the nose and throat, as do most seasonal viruses.

"The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs," Kawaoka said. Other studies have also shown it can cause gastrointestinal effects, and that it targets people not usually thought of as being at high risk.

"Obesity has been observed to be one of the risk factors for more severe reaction to H1N1" -- something never before seen, Kieny added. It is not clear if obese people may have undiagnosed health problems that make them susceptible, or if obesity in and of itself is a risk.

On Friday, a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Michigan reported that nine out of 10 patients treated in an intensive care unit there were obese. They also had unusual symptoms such as blood clots in the lungs and multiple organ failure.

None have recovered and three died.

The CDC estimates at least a million people are infected in the United States alone and clinics everywhere are advised not to test each and every patient, so keeping an accurate count of cases will be impossible. The United States has documented 211 deaths and WHO counted 429 early last week.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

New flu resembles feared 1918 virus: study

Bacteria played role in 1918 viral flu deaths, scientists say


Research on the 1918 flu pandemic indicates that the virus triggered a massive immune response that injured the lungs, allowing bacterial infection. Findings may influence preparations for pandemics.

link

[TheMercenary]

Interesting. I am sure that little has changed on that front. People develop pneumonia and then subsequent bacterial infections are often fatal.

[jinx]

Seems like the more effective/less abused antibiotic route would make more sense than iffy vaccines then. Swine flu vax didn't work out too well last time, what with it killing more people than the flu and all...

[sugarpop]

Is there some other way to protect yourself besides a vaccine? I never get the vaccine. I have an aversion to it. I simply do not trust the medical industry anymore. They are too much about profits.

[Aliantha]

Stay away from sick people would be my advice.

That's what I've been doing with Max, although Mav came home and told us that one of the kids in his class had swine flu over the break. She's back at school though, so I assume she's not contagious now.

[capnhowdy]

Stay away from sick people?
Then you couldn't log on in teh Cellar.
OH... you meant physically.

Carry on.

[TheMercenary]

Well it looks like it is here. The majority of people with the flu here seem to have Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu). My wife may be sick with it.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

[glatt]

amazing that it's so active after school is out.

[TheMercenary]

Gov't calls for volunteers to test swine flu shots

Jul 22 11:43 AM US/Eastern
By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is calling for several thousand volunteers to roll up their sleeves for the first swine flu shots, in a race to test whether a new vaccine really will protect against the virus before its expected to rebound in the fall.
The National Institutes of Health's infectious disease chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci, (FOW'-chee) tells The Associated Press that scientists first will test different doses of the swine flu vaccine in healthy adults and, if there are no immediate safety concerns, quickly begin testing babies and children.

The studies will begin at eight medical centers around the country—in Baltimore; Iowa City, Iowa; St. Louis; Nashville; Seattle; Atlanta; Cincinnati and Houston.